Vanover was a swing-arm engineer, United Space Alliance spokeswoman Kari Fluegel said. He supported work on the gaseous oxygen vent hood as well as the orbiter access arm, which is the passageway through which astronauts enter the space shuttle.

Relatives told CNN affiliate WKMG that Vanover had worked for 30 years at the Kennedy Space Center and had a new job lined up after he was to be laid off, along with many others affiliated with the space shuttle program, in the coming weeks.

Fluegel said the man's body was found on another level of Launch Pad 39A at the space hub in northeast Florida. NASA has not indicated what caused him to fall.

"The incident is under investigation," Thomas said. "As of right now, all work at the pad has been suspended for the day while we investigate what happened."

Allard Beutell, a NASA spokesman, told WKMG that "other than the fact it is a dangerous environment, there was nothing major, no hazardous operation taking place. It wasn't like they were fueling up the shuttle -- it was nothing like that."